We all like encouraging Scriptures. We like verses that give us hope and promise happiness. These are the verses that adorn our walls and bumper stickers. These are the verses we memorize and quote. These can be great and powerful verses. However, they do not paint the full picture of Biblical Christianity.
We tend to choose the uplifting verses, and edit out the hard ones. Like Grandpa’s selective hearing, we only pay attention to verses that promise life and joy and we ignore those verses which promise suffering or command obedience. Often these verses are found right next to each other in the same thought sequence.
My bud Matt mentioned one to me recently, which has prompted this new series.
Romans 8:37
37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
This familiar verse is a favorite for scripture memory, and for good reason. It describes our victory through Christ, reinforcing our faith and hope in Him. But read the preceding verse:
36 As it is written:
“ For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
“ For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Not exactly the kind of conqueror we had in mind. You don’t hear this verse quoted so often. It’s depressing. Yet it is reality, and it gives such deep and rich meaning to the following verse. Even though we may be slaughtered like sheep, we have the true victory over (eternal) death through Christ.
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